Cristiano Ronaldo took his tally to 19 goals in 17 matches with a double in Real Madrid's 3-2 win over Getafe on Monday as Jose Mourinho's side stayed within two points of Spanish league leader Barcelona.

It was a dramatic ride for bonds and the mortgage market in 2010 as an economic crisis in Europe and wonky concepts like "quantitative easing" helped push down yields to levels not seen since the 1950s.

In New York, as many as a million people braved tight security and chilly temperatures Friday night to take part in the storied Times Square New Year's celebration, first begun in 1904. Crowds counted down to midnight as the glowing 6-ton Waterford Crystal ball descended the flagpole at the top of One Times Square to mark the new year's arrival.

In 2010, the economy rebounded fitfully from the Great Recession starting strong, wobbling at midyear but showing enough vigor by year's end to quell fears of a second recession. Yet Americans hardly felt relief under the weight of high unemployment, which began the year at 9.7% and is now 9.8%.

When a dedicated, well-known athlete who has put in the hours at her job all year long gets a few weeks off, you might expect her to jet off to Melbourne, Madrid, maybe Miami. But if she's Liezel Huber, that job is professional tennis, those cities and nearly 20 others are essentially remote offices and home is where the offseason is.

The European Central Bank said Thursday that it will almost double its capital base to 10.76 billion ($14.3 billion) money that will buttress its efforts to contain the continent's government debt crisis.

A growing number of U.S. college students are studying foreign languages, a trend propelled by greater interest in Arabic, a broader palette of languages being taught and more crowded language classes at community colleges, a new study finds.